“It was my senior year of high school. I was sitting in English class on December, 7 2007 when I received the terrible news I had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) with only a fifty percent survival rate.

Experiencing the torture of chemotherapy and emerging victorious was a valuable life lesson.

Through this trying experience, I became a more patient, humble, appreciative and happy person. The entire experience left me with one primary thought … if God has given me a second chance at life, who am I to waste it?

After eight months of inpatient hospital care, including numerous trips to the ICU, I departed with a new sense of passion in every aspect of my life.

I am now healthier than ever before.

It has not been easy. I have had numerous scares over the years … including extremely low blood counts, numerous invasive checkups, bone marrow biopsies, spinal taps, and the like.

Even with these challenges, I would not take back having cancer for the world. I have met so many special people and have learned so many valuable lessons. These lessons learned have given me a clear vision of what I want and I am more focused on the future than ever before.

I got the degree I always wanted from the school I always dreamed of attending, Texas A&M University.

Healthy, happy and focused, I am now taking on the challenges of corporate America working in a finance roll for an independent O&G company in downtown Houston.

I couldn’t be more enamored when I look back and think about how, with the support of friends & family, the Lord turned my once-dire circumstance into the greatest blessing of my life.

Me: You running some of this with us?David: Running the whole thing with you, man.
Me: Oh, so you’ve been training for this?David: I ran 7 miles the other day.
Me: How far was your longest run?David Schonian: 7 miles.
Me: So you did a bunch of 7 mile runs?David: No. The other day I ran 7 miles. That was my ONLY run.

You know who felt the best and strongest at the finish line? Yep, David. He finished the entire 26.2 mile run with us.

This is a kid who raced motorcycles as a teenager and who did freestyle backflips on motorcycles. Running certainly wasn’t going to strike fear.

Today’s run was 10-12 miles of trails at aerobic pace. While my watch says 12 miles in 2:02, the route I mapped read 13.5 miles. That’s actually that pace I felt I was running too. My watch is never accurate on trails.

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About Snowdrop Foundation

Snowdrop Foundation is dedicated to assisting patients and families at Texas Children’s Cancer Center through funding for continued research to eliminate childhood cancer and scholarships for college bound pediatric cancer patients and survivors. [Read More...]